1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a method for measuring the water or oil content of a water-oil mixture or the components of other two-phase liquid mixtures having a high concentration of entrained gas using microwave radiation measurement of frequency change and power loss through a measuring apparatus.
2. Background
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,490, issued Feb. 26, 1991 to Scott, et al., and assigned to the assignee of the present invention describes an improved method and apparatus using microwave radiation for measuring the water content of an oil-water mixture over a relatively wide range of water content in the mixture. In measuring the content of water in crude oil, known as the watercut measurement, it has been considered necessary with prior art systems to first perform a separation process to remove as much gas from the mixture as possible. Typically, fluid flowstreams emitting from oil wells may contain a wide range of water, oil and gas in the mixture, thereby making fluid flow measurements difficult without expensive separation equipment and processes.
Although the above-described device and method provide a unique solution to so-called watercut measurement processes, it has heretofore also been considered necessary to remove as much gas from the mixture as possible before subjecting it to the microwave measurement technique. This added gas separation process at each well or elsewhere in the fluid gathering system is, of course, expensive and requires facilities which must be continuously maintained. It is highly desirable to be able to measure the amount of water in a crude oil flowstream at the wellhead or before significant separation processes are required, particularly in multi-owner oil fields where production is commingled before separation is performed.
There are, of course, other applications wherein it is desirable to know the content of one fluid in a multi-fluid mixture. The method of the present invention is believed to solve a problem heretofore unrealized, particularly in the use of microwave radiation-type measurement devices for measuring multi-component liquid mixtures.